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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26899309">strength in solutions</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/infrequency/pseuds/outsnfree'>outsnfree (infrequency)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>SEVENTEEN (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Flash Fiction, M/M, Minor Character Death, brief discussion of violence, the Dynamics of it all</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 22:48:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>775</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26899309</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/infrequency/pseuds/outsnfree</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Being introduced into the world of the supernatural had uprooted Mingyu's sense of self. He had always been grounded in reality, but the knowledge of the unknown had turned him upside down.</p><p>Jihoon brings him back to center.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kim Mingyu/Lee Jihoon | Woozi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Challenge 3: Supernatural</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>strength in solutions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The death mentioned in the tags is not someone named, though it does carry through most of the story.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first thing Mingyu registers is the chill of the concrete floor under his body. The overwhelming scent of sickly sweet decay comes next. Mingyu doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to nights after the full moon.</p><p>It’s been a year since he was bitten and six months since he began to lock himself away outside of town, but he never stops wishing that this part was a little more glamorous. With each passing full moon, he can feel the wear on his back and shoulders.</p><p>Jihoon always says that he’s a baby when he whines about this part, but he’s not the one who wakes up naked on concrete once a month.</p><p>“You’re awake.”</p><p>Think of the Devil and he will appear.</p><p>“I’m awake,” Mingyu confirms, sparing him a glance. He looks the way he always does, white pressed shirt, black slacks, hair neatly combed, and those sharp, watchful eyes. Mingyu can smell the traces of Jihoon’s cedar body wash, still sticking to his skin. Freshly showered hopefully means his clothes are freshly laundered.</p><p>A saving grace.</p><p>The rotting smell cuts through the scent of fresh laundry, and nausea rolls through Mingyu as he tries to not consider what that could be.</p><p>
  <em>One thing at a time.</em>
</p><p>Slowly, he works through the post-shift assessment like he was taught. Ten toes, none broken. Ten fingers, fully intact. There’s something <em>gritty</em>, something sticky under his nails, and a fresh scratch on his thigh, but nothing outlandish. His neck is screaming and his arms are too, but the soreness is normal after a night of howling at the moon. Mingyu’s learned how to embrace the small victories.</p><p>He shakes out the soreness, still stretching out the aches. The nakedness is no longer a thing of shame, something Mingyu no longer contends with when Jihoon appears. It’s stopped being awkward, because it’s not like that, not <em>really</em>, at least not here.</p><p>(Sometimes he thinks Jihoon looks, but mostly he thinks it’s wishful thinking. There’s nothing about their relationship that has indicated to be more than purely professional, a handler and his werewolf subject, but sometimes…)</p><p>Mingyu keeps on surveying the aches in his body, eyeballing the blood on his thigh again. It <em>looks</em> like his. Smells like his, too. Looks like he scraped up against a tree, or fell into some rocks, or did something that only brought harm to himself. All-in-all, if that’s the only damage done, then not a bad month.</p><p>Jihoon <em>sighs</em> wearily, and ice shoots up Mingyu’s spine. He knows what that sound means, has felt it sit on his chest like slabs of concrete, burn into his skin with wolfsbane and sage.</p><p>“You killed someone again, you know.” A sudden stinging behind Mingyu's eyes. </p><p>When Mingyu was first bitten, he had woken up naked and alone in a public park, with the taste of flesh and grit under his tongue. The news had reported the incident as an animal attack, a wolf escaping from the zoo. He seemed to find new bloodstains on his skin every day that followed.</p><p>Mingyu had refused to leave his apartment.</p><p>Then the first handler came.</p><p>He doesn’t remember much about them, but he does know that as much as Jihoon keeps him at an arm's length, there’s at least some affection in how he approaches their relationship.</p><p>Being introduced into the world of the supernatural had uprooted Mingyu's sense of self. He had always been grounded in reality, but the knowledge of the unknown had turned him upside down. He's been off-balance for so long.</p><p>Jihoon brings him back to center.</p><p>The handler's job, as Jihoon often reminds him, is to help him manage his shifts, track the moods in between, and how they correlate to his behavior as an <em>animal. </em>In a way, he feels like a science project.</p><p>("You're a <em>project</em>, alright," Jihoon had scoffed before locking him in for the night.)</p><p>He will never get used to it, how the change heightens every emotion and sensation he will ever experience. The euphoria of being more than human ripped away.</p><p>“Breathe,” Jihoon reminds him gently, and Mingyu nods, counting down from 100. The lump that had formed in his throat dissolves, a track of tears staining his cheek before he wipes the evidence away.</p><p>He tries to steady his breathing, calming the sniffles before he speaks again. “Is the body” – his voice cracks on the acknowledgment, it's the worst part – “what I smell?”</p><p>Jihoon stares at Mingyu, emotions flickering on his face before going stoic.</p><p>Jihoon slings the bag off his shoulder, nudging it toward Mingyu with his foot.</p><p>“Get dressed. <em>You</em> smell like dog.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><br/><a href="https://infrequencies.dreamwidth.org/">dw</a> || <a href="curiouscat.qa/infrequenced">cc</a><br/></p></blockquote></div></div>
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